CSGI (Center for colloids and surface science) is an inter-university research consortium devoted to basic research and to the development of high-tech new processes in several different scientific fields. It supports the activities of the small and medium size business industrial companies that cannot afford the financial costs of an independent research activity.

In other words, it is a public research institution which gathers several Italian academic groups with established research track record in the area of Soft Matter and Surface Science. CSGI leverages the complementary expertise, skills, and instrumental/technical capabilities of the network to jointly perform high-profile research in areas related to the CSGI core scientific topics, to train young scientists and to provide a top scientific and technological infrastructure to private companies.

Since 1994, CSGI has been promoting and coordinating scientific, training and technology transfer activities in the chemistry of colloidal systems and, more generally, systems with a high interfacial area. To accomplish this goal, CSGI brings together the most prestigious Italian academic schools in the field of Soft Matter and functional surfaces, providing an infrastructure for the academic network operating in this thematic area in Italy. CSGI has top-level synthetic and experimental expertise for the physico-chemical characterization of soft and hard matter and functional surfaces.

CSGI is an internationally recognized network of excellence; their position in the Italian scientific landscape made them the consortium with the highest number of employees in chemistry (60), with over 94% of the products rated as Excellent.

With this exceptionally robust scientific background, CSGI implements actions that make basic and applied research and technology transfer available for companies, facilitating their access to the activity of national, international, or "large scale infrastructures" laboratories.

Over the years, CSGI has become an international network of reference for technology transfer, involving Italian, European, and international research bodies, and private companies, for example ENI, Procter & Gamble, Biomeuriex, L'Oreal, pharmaceutical IDI, Dompé, Rottapharm.

Finally, this scientific excellence and proactive capacity result in a remarkable success rate in European competitive funding, often with CSGI as the coordinator team.

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